next »

[tommyk39]

Much of the discussion seems to assume that the spouses are in the same discipline/department. How is the process different when there is a spouse in a different field?

[dundee]

Good point - my spouse is in a different department.

[daniel_von_flanagan]

Much of the discussion seems to assume that the spouses are in the same discipline/department. How is the process different when there is a spouse in a different field?

Both better and worse.  Worse, because Department X has no leverage over Department Y's hires.  (If the chair from, say, American Studies, came to us and asked us to hire someone we wouldn't normally hire because they had a chance at a superstar, I think some of would injure ourselves from laughing so hard.)  Better, because the department isn't on the hook for creating a job from their own resources, so they can assure you in good faith that they will do everything in their (nonexistent) power to find something for your spouse.

I do know of situations where the spousal department was one that regularly needed temps, and the department was in fact able to engineer a job for the spouse.

If you are very strong in a field the university administration covets (read: a high-dollar grant field), then there is a chance the administration will be able to create something somewhere. - DvF

[scinerd]

I my recent experience, most department chairs simply asked me.  The first time I was shocked and awkwardly said yes.  Afterwards, I was prepared and had a copies of SO's CV ready. 

[tenured_feminist]

I think that there's no generalizing about easier/harder if the partners are in the same or different disciplines. At my previous uni, there were N+1 couples in English with partners elsewhere, so if you went to the head of English and said "We have a great candidate for our search, but her partner is in En . . ." the head would have been halfway across campus before you could finish the sentence. But if you'd have caught them 10 years ago, they'd have been open to the idea, especially with a sweetener from the Dean.

To return to my own experience, negotiating about a partner is different, I think, if you already have a job. I went on the market twice selectively from my original TT job, and in both cases mentioned my partner and his lack of career opportunities in the second paragraph of my cover letter. In both cases I got at least one good job offer. So go figure. But I'd be hesitant to generalize from my small N even within my discipline/interdisciplinary context.

[bigsky]

Different disciplines under the same Dean isn't necessarily any more of a problem if the Dean really wants a candidate and has the flexibility to dole out another position, as has been the case at my University. Two disciplines, each in a different College then you are at the mercy of the other College (unless of course the Provost/President) wants to step in.

We had both scenarios play out at my insitution within the last couple of years. In one case (same college) both departments interviewed the candidates simultaneously but neither was offered a position. In the other case, we wanted a candidate and forwarded her spouse's CV to another department (different college) and they said she was less qualified for a TT position than most of their adjuncts. Didn't pan out.

[prof_tournesol]

I'm part of an academic couple (same discipline in the Humanities) and we've landed TT jobs at the same institution twice now, and have turned down TT jobs at the same institution on more than one occasion when the fit for one or the other of us has been bad. It can be done, but in my experience it is generally only the better universities that are willing to do it, because they are more concerned about losing high quality candidates due to spousal issues.

About a dozen years ago I was on the SC hiring a new VP Research at my current university. We brought in five candidates, four of whom wanted spousal hires, which we did not have a policy on. These were outstanding, outstanding people and so, for the most part, were the spouses. But we had a President at the time who was short-sited, and so we passed on those people and went further down the list, bringing in more candidates until someone acceptable, but not outstanding, was found. It was our loss.

I do think that that experience made a difference though, for about eight years ago we realized that we needed to adopt a spousal policy, and we did. It has made us a significantly stronger university. I'm really of the belief that rather than complaining about candidates who want spousal hires, energy should be spent getting the policy changed. Often the best people in the field are married and if you want the best people, you need to do what you can to attract them.

[bigsky]

I'm part of an academic couple (same discipline in the Humanities) and we've landed TT jobs at the same institution twice now, and have turned down TT jobs at the same institution on more than one occasion when the fit for one or the other of us has been bad. It can be done, but in my experience it is generally only the better universities that are willing to do it, because they are more concerned about losing high quality candidates due to spousal issues.

Better schools and/or more rural schools that tend to have a hard time attracting candidates.

[prof_tournesol]

I'm in a major city at a major R1, and was previously as well.

I just lost a great colleague who moved to an even better R1 in a better location. He was a spousal hire at the school he's going to.

[canadia]

Say that a remote, rural university has 2 openings, same dept.: one for each spouse. But due to miscommunication, neither spouse was aware that there was a position for the other. (We did our searches separately, and b/c this place was remote, it didn't show up on my radar. Between the 2 of us, we applied to over 60 places and this place fell through the cracks.)

Now my spouse will be going to our annual convention with an offer in hand (yeah!!!). She's already planning on telling all the schools that she has an offer in hand, so they need to inform her of her status ASAP so that she can make a decision whether or not to risk it and stay on the market. She she is going to cancel interviews to at least 2 places that frankly won't be in the running any more. One of those places *would be* Remote U.

B/c she has an offer already and a ton of killer interviews at top-notch schools lined-up, and b/c her candidacy at Remote U is now contingent on me BUT I didn't apply for the position, could she level w/ them and say that due to a miscommunication, we both messed up (she didn't apply to places in Boston for crying out loud and I have 2 interviews in the area!!!) and would like for them to consider my application, and then hand them my packet of info?

I realize it will probably come off as arrogant, to say the least. But she's a stellar candidate and she already has an offer. I'm a good+ candidate, but it seems like I would be a good match for the institute and department.

It's a prestigious SLAC, fwiw.

[yellowtractor]

She can ask for anything she likes, of course.  Indoor bowling lanes, a tethered nightingale in a golden cage for the office....

Personally, I think asking for special handling at the interview stage is asking for trouble.  Normally one presents these sorts of needs when an offer is tendered, not before.  If I were on an SC and received a phone call or e-mail saying "Hi, I'm one of your semifinalists, I have an offer in hand elsewhere and would like you to consider my partner for a position in tandem with my application, because otherwise your gig really wouldn't be competitive," we'd just strike you from our list.  For one thing, we wouldn't have nearly enough time to evaluate you at preliminary and campus interviews and make up our minds.

Which raises an additional question:  How long has the school making the offer given your spouse to tender her decision?  Does she really have time to head off to convention interviews and even plan for campus interviews beyond that without having to commit, one way or another, to the school that has made her an offer???

[canadia]

Which raises an additional question:  How long has the school making the offer given your spouse to tender her decision?  Does she really have time to head off to convention interviews and even plan for campus interviews beyond that without having to commit, one way or another, to the school that has made her an offer???

She has until after the convention. The plan is to see how many fly-backs she can get, how many I can get and where, and then decide if it's worth the risk to decline the offer.

And the tethered nightingale MUST be in a leopard-skin cage, btw. [/diva] ;)

[wxdude]

Thanks, everyone, for your input. We've just lost our second candidate in this search due to the two body problem. The first candidate, to hu's credit, made a quick decision once it was clear that a spousal hire was not possible. The second candidate held off on making a decision for two weeks, and then asked us to hold the position for hu for six weeks to give hu had a chance to interview at more universities to see if hu could get a better deal (clearly we can't wait six weeks as this will put us beyond the hiring season.) If I had been given notice earlier of the need to find a position for the spouses, rather than at the time the offers were made, it may have been possible to have done something more for the spouses. As it is, as pointed out by several posters, by the time we reach the offer stage of the hiring process, there are no opportunities for us to generate new tenure lines or full time non-tt appointments.

So, we're back to the phone interview stage, and this time around I will tactfully raise the issue, not as a question to the candidates as this will violate our HR policies, but simply as a means of providing information to the candidates so that they can make an informed decision should they be invited for an on campus interview. Hopefully if a spousal hire is important to the candidate, s/he will decline an offer of a campus interview so we don't waste their (and our) time.

For what it's worth, my dean is very supportive of spousal hires but has no resources to do so on short notice. This experience has provided additional support for hu's negotiations with the senior administration to provide some type of spousal hire policy.

[bigsky]

While I have espoused the virtues of my institution's spousal hire practices we are currently interviewing for a position where this might become an issue. If one looks at our department's website it is pretty apparent that we have several faculty couples. Unfortunately, I think we have done this so many times in the recent past that we might not have the room anymore. I guess we will see if it becomes an issue, hasn't come up yet.

[daniel_von_flanagan]

Thanks, everyone, for your input. We've just lost our second candidate in this search due to the two body problem.
...
If I had been given notice earlier of the need to find a position for the spouses, rather than at the time the offers were made, it may have been possible to have done something more for the spouses. As it is, as pointed out by several posters, by the time we reach the offer stage of the hiring process, there are no opportunities for us to generate new tenure lines or full time non-tt appointments.

From this thread and others, this is clearly the common experience of those of us who have been on the University end of such searches. I just hope the people who repeatedly advise to "wait until you have the real bargaining power of the offer in hand" are paying attention.

Moreover, every spousal hire that fails for such reasons is a form of negative reinforcement for a department (like mine) that might otherwise be a proponent of hiring couples.  - DvF